Structure of shoe sole

ABSTRACT

A structure of shoe sole is provided, which is a custom-made shoe sole that is formed according to a user&#39;s foot sole so as to improve the effects of support and wrapping of the shoe sole. The shoe sole includes an enclosure and a clay-like thermoplastic material. The enclosure includes upper and lower cover layers that are made of a material showing local stretchability and air permeability. The thermoplastic material is received between the upper and lower cover layers and is a thermoplastic mixture in the form of soft ceramic. With the shoe sole placed in a shoe and the shoe put on a user&#39;s foot, the thermoplastic material of the shoe sole may get deformed inside the enclosure according to the contour of the user&#39;s foot sole, making the shoe sole shaped to completely match the foot sole of the user.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of shoe sole, andmore particularly to a structure of shoe sole that is self-shapeable andheat-setting so that the shape of shoe sole can be automatically setaccording to three-dimensional contour of a user's foot sole to therebyenhance safety and comfortableness of the user wearing shoes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A shoe sole is a pad that is positioned inside a shoe for supportingpressures induced on a foot sole and limiting the movement of an anklethereby providing a cushioning function to reduce the potential risk ofdamage to the user's foot. The shoe sole is put in direct contact with afoot sole and it is of critical effect on the safety and comfortablenessof a user wearing the shoe. A conventional shoe sole is made in the formof a flat pad like article, which only engages front and rear portionsof the foot sole and the heel, but provides no support to the arch thatis at a middle portion of the foot sole. This results in non-uniformdistribution of pressure. Further, since the user's foot is not properlyconstrained, the heel is allowed for movement in a large range. Thisoften results in a twist of the ankle. Apparently, the conventional shoesole does not completely meet the needs of general consumers.

To overcome the problem that the conventional shoe sole cannot properlysupport the arch, a thermoplastic shoe sole is available. Thethermoplastic shoe sole is formed by trimming a plate made of foamedplastics or thermoplastic urethane to provide a sole blank, which isheated to the softening point (not the melting point) and is thensubjected to depressing and shaping by using a foot mold. Afterwards,cooling is made to set the molded blank to form a finished product ofshoe sole. In this way, the shoe sole is made an arch pad that cansupport the arch of a user's foot sole.

The above mentioned thermoplastic material that is used to form the shoesole is not a flowable material and must be heated to the softeningpoint, which generates a high temperature condition. This, plus theeffect of restoration springing, makes it not possible to mold and shapethe shoe sole by directly using a user's foot sole, and the shoe solecan only be properly formed after being repeatedly depressed and moldedseveral times by using the foot mold that is prepared in advance.Further, during the process of molding and shaping, although the shoesole blank can be deformed in a vertical direction within athree-dimensional space to form an arch pad, yet deformation of theblank in a horizontal lateral direction is not significant enough toprovide an effect of wrapping the arch at opposite sides thereof.

Further, as discussed above, the known technique uses a fixed foot mold,which has a poor capability of shaping, so that it needs several timesof repeated molding steps before the final shape can be obtained. Thus,it is not possible for the known technique to provide a custom-made shoesole, for each individual user has different height of arch, and thus,no effective support to the arch can be realized and the pressuredistribution on the foot sole cannot be made uniform. Further, it showsa poor effect of positioning, which negatively influences thecomfortableness of user wearing a shoe. Further, since the conventionalshoe sole does not closely wrap around the foot sole of a wearer, thefoot sole of the wearer is allowed to shift in an undesired lager rangeinside the shoe, making the positioning of foot sole even worse andeventually resulting in deformation and hurt of foot sole due totwisting. In addition, due to the poor effect of not properly supportingthe arch and not wrapping the heel, a wearer of a shoe cannot get thefoot relaxed when taking movement while wearing the shoe. This leads towaste of body energy and a long term wear of the shoe incorporating theconventional shoe sole will eventually exhaust the wearer and causetiredness and incapability of long standing and walking.

The above discussion clearly shows a potential solution thatcomfortableness and safety of wearing a shoe can be realized for awearer by forming a shoe sole in such a way that a shoe wearer's footsole is used as a mold in molding the shoe sole, whereby the wearer'sfoot arch can be properly supported and the heel and lateral sides ofthe wearer's foot sole can be closely wrapped by the shoe sole so made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, the primary object of the present invention is to provide astructure of shoe sole, wherein the shoe sole is custom-made accordingto the contour of a user's foot sole, so that excellent support andclose wrapping around the foot sole can be realized.

The solution, which the present invention adopts to achieve the aboveobject, is a structure of shoe sole that comprises:

an enclosure, which comprises a hollow sack having a shape correspondingto an inside contour of a shoe, the enclosure comprising an upper coverlayer and a lower cover layer that overlap each other and are jointed toeach other along a circumference to form the sack;

a thermoplastic material, which is received between the upper coverlayer and the lower cover layer of the enclosure, the thermoplasticmaterial comprising soft ceramic material that is shapeable in roomtemperature and settable by being heated;

as such, a top surface of the shoe sole is shapeable to form athree-dimensional configuration exactly corresponding to a wearer's footsole, the three-dimensional configuration comprising an arch sectionthat corresponds to the arch of the foot sole and a heel wrappingsection that corresponds to the heel of the foot sole, whereby the shoesole is formed to realize full support of and closely wrapping aroundthe foot sole.

With such a technical solution, the shoe sole made in accordance withthe present invention, when positioned in a shoe that is worn by a user,allows the thermoplastic material inside the enclosure of the shoe soleto deform and thus be shaped according to the foot sole of the user.Further, since the thermoplastic material is enclosed and thusconstrained by the enclosure, the adhesion of the thermoplastic materialis properly isolated and deformation of the shoe sole to athree-dimensional configuration corresponding to the user's foot solecan be properly achieved. Further, after heating and setting, the shoesole can effectively wrap around the heel of the user's foot sole andproperly support the arch, making the pressure of the foot soleuniformly distributed on the foot sole and the moving space of the anklesuitably constrained, so that safety and comfortableness aresignificantly improved and added value is increased, leading to upgradedcapability of competition and increased economic value.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introductionto the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a foot sole constructed inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the shoe sole of the present invention,illustrating spatial relationship among constituent components thereof.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the shoe sole of the presentinvention in a completely assembled form, illustrating inside structureof the shoe sole.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the shoe sole of the presentinvention after being deformed and thus shaped.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are notintended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

The present invention provides a structure of custom-made shoe sole andan embodiment of the shoe sole is illustrated in the several drawingsattached, in which direction related terms, such as front and rear, leftand right, top and bottom, upper and lower, and horizontal and verticalthat are referred to in the following description are provided only forconvenience of description and not to any extent to limit the componentsof the shoe sole of the present invention to any specific position ororientation in the three-dimensional space. Any specific size shown ormentioned in the drawings and the specification is subjected to properchange according to the design and requirement of embodiments of thepresent invention illustrated, without departing the scope of thepresent invention as best defined in the appended claims.

The present invention provides a structure of custom-made shoe sole. Asshown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the shoe sole of the present invention,generally designated at 1, comprises a sack-like enclosure 10 and athermoplastic material 20 contained in the enclosure 10.

Details of a preferred embodiment of the present invention areillustrated in FIGS. 1-3, wherein the enclosure 10 has a shapecorresponding to an inside contour a shoe and the enclosure 10 is formedof an upper cover layer 11 and a lower cover layer 12 that overlap eachother and are jointed together along circumferential edges thereof. Theupper and lower cover layers 11, 12 are made of a material showing localstretchability and air permeability, such as cloth, non-woven fabric,and plastic film. The circumferential edges of the upper and lower coverlayers 11, 12 can be jointed through ultrasonic waves, adhesives, andsewing.

The thermoplastic material 20 is received between the upper and lowercover layers 11, 12 of the enclosure 10 with the circumferential edgesof the upper and lower cover layers 11, 12 jointed together in a sealedmanner. The thermoplastic material 20 is a soft ceramic material that isshapeable in room temperature and is settable by being heated. Thethermoplastic material 20 may comprise a major constituent component ofthermoplastic resin, reactive resin, and/or air-drying resin. For thethermoplastic resin, of which examples include ethylene vinyl acetate(EVA), thermoplastic elastomer, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), andpolyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plasticizer (such as a softener, includingfor example di-isononyl phthalate (DINP), di-octylphthalate (DOP), andwax) and an excipient/filler (such as calcium carbonate and gaseoussilicon dioxide) that are added and mixed together as a clay-like softceramic material, which has the characteristics of being shapeable inroom temperature and settable by being heated. For reactive resin, ofwhich examples include hot air vulcanization (HAV) silicone rubber,rubber, polyurethane, epoxy resin, a constant temperature crosslinkerand an excipient/filler (such as calcium carbonate and gaseous silicondioxide)are added and mixed to form a clay-like soft ceramic material,which has the characteristics of being shapeable in room temperature andsettable by being heated to a reaction temperature. For air-dryingresin, of which examples include polyvinyl acetate (PVAC), polyvinylalcohol (PVA), vinyl acetate-ethylene (VAE), an excipient/filler (suchas calcium carbonate and gaseous silicon dioxide) is and it is processedby being taken out of a sealed bag and put into a shoe to match a user'sfoot sole and being then removed from the shoe to get naturally driedand thus shaped and set.

As such, a custom-made shoe sole 1 that is formed according to the footsole of a user is provided.

As to practical applications of the present invention, reference is nowmade to FIGS. 1 and 4. The shoe sole 1, which is not shaped and set, ispositioned in a shoe and the shoe is then put on a foot of a user.Afterwards, the user may stand and walk in a normal way and then theshoe is taken off and the shoe sole 1 is removed from the shoe. Due tothe force applied by the user walking and standing, a top surface of theshoe sole 1 is shaped to form a three-dimensional configuration 30exactly corresponding to the contour of the user's foot sole. Thethree-dimensional configuration 30 comprises an arch section 31 thatcorresponds to the arch of the foot sole and a heel wrapping section 35that corresponds to the heel of the foot sole. The shoe sole is thensubjected to heating or natural drying to get the shape set. When theuser wears the shoe, the foot sole of the user completely matches and isin tight and complete engagement with the three-dimensionalconfiguration 30 of the shoe sole 1 so that the foot sole is providedwith complete support and wrapping.

The shoe sole 1 of the present invention shows at least the followingadvantages and values:

(1) The shoe sole 1 of the present invention can be kept in a softceramic like condition that is shapeable in room temperature and can beset after properly shaped. Thus, a user's foot sole can be used as amold to shape a custom-made shoe sole 1 that completely matches thecontour of the foot sole and thus provides effective support to the footsole and makes the foot sole pressure uniformly distributed on the wholeshoe sole 1 and is further advantageous in enhanced foot solepositioning capability that improves the comfortableness of wearing theshoe to do activity.

(2) The shoe sole 1 of the present invention can be shaped to match thethree-dimensional configuration 30 of the soles of various users, so asto provide an effect of wrapping that limits the range of movement ofthe user's ankle inside a shoe and improves the foot sole positioningcapability, whereby deformation and hurt of foot caused by twisting canbe avoided and safety of wearing shoe to do activity can be improved.

(3) The shoe sole 1 of the present invention provides sufficient supportto the arch of a user's foot sole and wraps around the heel of the footsole so that a user, when wearing a shoe that incorporates the shoe soleto do activity, can totally relax without causing waste consumption ofbody energy and this helps improving the problems of tiredness andincapability of properly standing and walking for long term wearing ofthe shoe.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

1. A shoe sole, comprising: an enclosure, which comprises a hollow sackhaving a shape corresponding to an inside contour of a shoe, theenclosure comprising an upper cover layer and a lower cover layer thatoverlaps each other and are jointed to each other along circumferentialedges to form the sack; and a thermoplastic material, which is receivedbetween the upper cover layer and the lower cover layer of theenclosure, the thermoplastic material comprising soft ceramic materialthat is shapeable in room temperature and settable by being heated;wherein a top surface of the shoe sole is shapeable to form athree-dimensional configuration exactly corresponding to a wearer's footsole, the three-dimensional configuration comprising an arch sectionthat corresponds to the arch of the foot sole and a heel wrappingsection that corresponds to the heel of the foot sole, whereby the shoesole is formed to realize full support of and closely wrapping aroundthe foot sole.
 2. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 1,wherein the upper and lower cover layers are made of a material showinglocal stretchability and air permeability.
 3. The structure of shoe soleaccording to claim 2, wherein the material of the upper and lower coverlayers is selected from a group consisting of cloth, non-woven fabric,and plastic film.
 4. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 1,wherein the circumferential edges of the upper and lower cover layersare jointed by means of ultrasonic waves, adhesives, and sewing.
 5. Thestructure of shoe sole according to claim 2, wherein the circumferentialedges of the upper and lower cover layers are jointed by means ofultrasonic waves, adhesives, and sewing.
 6. The structure of shoe soleaccording to claim 3, wherein the circumferential edges of the upper andlower cover layers are jointed by means of ultrasonic waves, adhesives,and sewing.
 7. The structure of shoe sole according to claim 1, whereinthe thermoplastic material comprises a thermoplastic resin, which isadded with a plasticizer and an excipient/filler to form a clay-likesoft ceramic material that has the characteristics of being shapeable inroom temperature and settable by being heated.
 8. The structure of shoesole according to claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic material comprisesa reactive resin, which is added with a constant temperature crosslinkerand an excipient/filler to form a clay-like soft ceramic material thathas the characteristics of being shapeable in room temperature andsettable by being heated to a reaction temperature.
 9. The structure ofshoe sole according to claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic materialcomprises an air-drying resin, which is added with an excipient/fillerand which, after being taken out of a sealed bag, is put into a shoe tomatch a user's foot sole and then removed from the shoe to get naturallydried and thus shaped and set.